Bakemono Yashiki, page 229 by James S. de Benneville
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ill described as a cross. For hours he hung, revived from time to time with vinegar. Then signal was given for the end. First one, then another, yakunin thrust a spear into his belly, seeking least injury and greatest torture. As he approached the utter prostration of a dissolution the yoriki gave sign. The spear point thrust into the vitals showed through the left shoulder. And Jinnai died.
To the north, just beyond the present Torigoébashi, is the Jinnaibashi, relic of this episode. On the north, close by the Torigoé Jinja stands the shrine to Jinnai, the god granting cure to sufferers from ague. No mean resort is it; nor modest the offerings of wine to his service. There it has endured through these hundreds of years. Jinnaibashi, Jigokubashi (Hell Bridge) is a relic of the place of execution soon abandoned. After the fifth year of the period the jail was removed to Temmacho[u]; the execution ground to Kotsukabara.
CHAPTER XXIII
A WINTER SESSION
Aoyama Shu[u]zen was in conference with Chu[u]dayu. Preparations were to be made. It was with something like dismay that the members of the Endurance Society received the missive--"At this season of the great heat your honoured health is matter of solicitude. More and more may it thrive. Hence the condescension of the honoured (your) litter is requested on the coming sixteenth day. The wish is expressed to offer a cup of inferior wine. With fear and respect:--
To...."
Alas! Alas! If they could have but reached the ceremonies of the New Year.[31] This rascal Aoyama would have been too occupied with the official visits to press his right to a meeting in the season of extreme cold (the tai-kan). But now--on the 16th day of the 12th month (2nd February): Ah! Ha! He was a wicked fellow. The grudge properly lay against Kondo[u] Noborinosuké who had sweated the juice out of them in the intense heat of the hot season. Now